The Loaded Gloves

WHY 50 CENT IS PERFECT FOR BOXING

Last week the Boxing world was hit with a little "Hip Hop Marketing 101" from Curtis Jackson AKA 50 Cent in response to an Oscar De Lahoya tweet about "everyone" trying to get into the Promotion game. Apparently Oscar didn't know how "Fiddy" got into the rap game; lets just say he wasn't the most pleasant of newcomers. 50 got in the game like any hungry street urchin would, the iconoclast route; for the layman it means he came in dissing anything that moved to see if he could get some traction. So calling a 9 time (thats a belt for each bullet if he's counting) World Boxing Champion a "girl" via Twitter is not above the CEO of TMT Promotions escpecially when his soon to be # 1 client does it all the time. Nevermind the fact that in pumps and nightie Oscar could get the HGH head out of there in 30 seconds, 50 has to keep up with the thug image which of course propels the average Rapper above men who actually fight for a living. I for one welcome Fiddy to the fight game, home of Don King (who actually did murder) and Panama Lewis; he has every right to prove himself as a new object of your disdain. Here are the reasons this brotha is perfect for the "business" of Boxing.

1. He Can provide Marketing clout for Black Fighters

If your looking for a politically correct ecosystem; Boxing aint the fucking place homie. Ethnic rivalry is alive and well in the Sweet Science and dont burry your head and act as if Promoters dont work from a template going back to Jack Johnson and t Golden Age of New York. Top Rank and Godlen Boy SMARTLY push Latino fighters because their fans are the best; period. Al Haymon is becoming the invisable Capo Di Tutti capi as the manager with the most clout ( see the Danny Garcia shoutout after destroying Amir Khan) but his ascension was rooted in his stable of black fighters and THE Black fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. The low key svengali keeps a boot on the neck of HBO and makes sure bruhs get overpaid, just ask new TMT signee Andre Berto; 50 Cent can be a Promotional extension of that inside baseball making sure the paper LLC Mayweather Promotions will have an extended life after he retires. Marketing is about reach and theres no reach in the hood longer than that of the Hip Hop Mogul; check the Forbes list of highest paid and you'll find a who's who in the Rap game. If someone of 50's credibility goes in on Boxing the fighters he's associated with have inroads to a consumer base that marketing observers considered "aged out" when it comes to the sport. OG's like myself grew up when Boxing was cool but for our kids, not so much; 50 Cent can change that for the next Generation of Black Fighters and beyond.

2. Boxing is without Oversight and Governance




Jim Lampley urged us to "Occupy" Boxing, but he knows you cant effectively occupy something that isn't Centralized; so tell me Jim just where would that building be?. Ever predatory (i mean business minded) I'm sure 50 peeped this during his time kicking it with Floyd; I'm sure talking to him he was able to make connections in his mind that even Floyd couldn't. MLB is a "Boys club" so tight they wouldn't let Mark Cuban in and yet found a way to let a cash strapped Frank McCourt in to buy the Dodgers. I'm sure 50 saw firsthand that in Boxing you can BE the fucking governance simply by getting all the ducks in a row, just like "moving weight" without the violence. "Mayweather testing" is a form of defacto Governance ; can you imagine the NFL allowing their most visible athletes to go outside of the negotiated CBA and demand their own brand of protocol?. 50 Cent is a unique hybrid of the street and corporate America, both training grounds for what the United States Government likes to call "flexible morality". Nobody is looking over their shoulders in boxing; its kind of like that neighborhood that cops "allow" to run as an open air market for all vice just as long as they don't cross certain respectable gentrified parts of the city. Jay Z is the biggest mogul in the game and it got him exactly 1% of an NBA Franchise, Rush Limbaugh was rolling up bread when 50 was a future inmate in training and he cant get arrested in an NFL city; both could get a promoters license and steal fighters from Gary Shaw tomorrow. And nobody would raise an eyebrow; because there is nobody but loudmouths like me. 


3. 50 Cent is Well acquainted with Conspiracy, and Boxing is built on it




Psssst; gather around chilluns, i wanna share a secret with you that may shock you-but Hip Hop used to have a conscience. Theres nothing i hate more than someone who believes current trends and evolutions "just happen" and dismisses anybody who rejects that notion as "old" or a "hater". Hip Hops first crossover act was RUN DMC in 1986 so the money was always there to be made but making money and becoming an instrument of broad cultural influence are two different things. 50's whole career was just an escalation of a much larger conspiracy that is still in effect today..and he knows it. How do you go from "Fight the Power" to "I Get Money"? from Public Enemy and Tupac identifying the "they" angry young black men have been wanting to transcend to rappers endorsing Vodka?..50 knows. 50 talks about De La Hoya with the venom of someone who knows he's a front man; he wont call Richard Shaefer "girl" because the Banker is aligned with the same "forces" that engineered Hip Hops current demonic course. You see, when your willing to "Get Rich or Die Trying" your willing to look the other way while young bruh's walk around ignorant, violent and clueless about the options they have in life. 50's well publicised feuds that have led to deaths, and gun play was an extension of the violence that cost us Biggie and Pac- but it was good for business. The media powers that move in shadows made no attempt to intervene in Hip Hops merging with the criminal underworld; just as long as the music lost it's REAL POWER-the ability to uplift young black males. Boxing is the same feudalistic enterprise driven by men from the same circumstances as the Rapper, if your willing to box you have that hunger that fueled Curtis to go from the streets to the boardrooms. America was built by Monopoly, Conspiracy and Robber Barons, and 50 Cent is as American as Joe Kennedy himself.  




4. 50 Cent WILL Make Fights


Before i could even get this article finished TMT signed Zab Judah and Andre Berto, already an "in house" fight I'd want to see. 50 came to prominence on the mix tape, a DJ driven medium that up and comers used as advertising; a tape could contain up to 50 rappers laying out challenges and in some cases real threats to MC's they were "beefin" with. Buying the tapes at mom and pop stores or on the streets gave the serious hip hop head value and a preview of what the next big thing was going to be. 50 Cent is promising "loaded" cards, the Boxing equivalent of a mix tape, an animal we haven't seen since the glory days of Don King in the mid 90's. Bruhs of a certain age can remember seeing real fight cards before Bob Arum figured out he could get paid with NO under card. Make no mistake; We are a consumer based blog and if 50 Cent can put together shows that deserve your revenue WE WILL SUPPORT HIM 100%. Stephan A. Smith also pointed out Curtis may have a rational affect on Mayweather to the degree that Floyd can be influenced in the wisdom of 50% of Forte Knox vs. saving face ( to people who dont matter) and NO Pacquiao Super Fight. 50 Cent can enter Bob Arums office free of the Cold War (TR vs. GBP)baggage that keeps the sport marginalized to mainstream consumers. If Hip Hop teaches us anything it's that human nature is always rivited by the best battling the best; why else would he conjure up the release sales battle vs. Kanya West; and don't lie you bought it...if it were a Boxing model it would be 50 Cent vs. Unknown "backpack rapper". He's no stranger to the spectacle of combat; he made his name by shamelessly stepping to All Time greats like Jay Z. He can clearly influence Mayweather to and stable to make the fights WE want to see, because the one thing the Business of Music and Movies teaches is ...IF IT AINT SENSATIONAL, IT AINT SHIT.